Process and apparatus for collecting and stacking of flexible sheets



April 28, 1959 A. R. STOBB 2,884,243

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING AND STACKING OF FLEXIBLE SHEETSFiled Dec; 12, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 lNVENTOR: T ANTON R. STOBB Y ,47'TORNEV Aprll 28, 1959 A. R. STOBB 2,884,243

PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR COLLECTING AND STACKING OF FLEXIBLE SHEETSFiled Dec. 12, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 vvvavfop:

ANTON R. STOBB 5% WW A T TORA/EY nite PROCESS AND APPARATUS FORCOLLECTING AND STACKING F FLEXIBLE SHEETS Application December 12, 1956,Serial No. 627,830

8 Claims. (Cl. 271-45) This invention relates to a process and apparatusfor collecting and stacking of flexible sheets including signatures ofmagazines, books, newspapers, and the like which might be fed from aprinting press.

Collectors of this general type are known; however, they either requireelaborate, and therefore different and non-analogous, apparatus, or theyare not designed to collect flexible sheets. The instant invention doesnot require elaborate apparatus, and yet the process and apparatusdisclosed herein will serve to collect and stack sheets at the high ratethat they are delivered from a high speed web printing press.

It is an object of this invention to provide an improved process andapparatus for the direct collection and stacking of sheets coming from aprinting press or the like.

A specific object of this invention is to provide a process andapparatus for stacking flexible sheets wherein said sheets areaccurately aligned in their stacked relation.

Another object of this invention is the accomplishment of the twoforegoing objects in an inexpensive manner and with apparatus which isadjustable to. accommodate different weights, sizes, and materials offlexible sheets.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading thefollowing description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings,wherein:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view of a preferred embodiment of thisinvention with parts broken away.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of a fragment of the embodiment shown in Fig.1.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of parts shown in Fig. 1, but shown fromthe opposite side.

The same reference numerals refer to. the same parts throughout theseveral views.

A conveyor is shown supportingtflexible sheets or signatures 11 whichare disposed in overlapped or echeloned relation on the horizontallength 12 of the conveyor. The conveyor 10 includes the pulleys 13, 14,15, and 16 (see Fig. 3) which define the angular path of the conveyor 10through the horizontal length .12 and the vertical length 17. Of coursethe pulleys are suitably mounted with some of them being mounted inframe 18 which supports the pulley shafts 19, 20, and 21 at oppositeends of the shafts, in a conventional manher. In this instance, a base23 supports the frame 18 i on the floor, and the near side panel isremoved to show the interior of the machine. The conveyor 10 is,conventionally powered to move in the direction of the arrows shown.

The pulley 13 is located at a point where, the signatures 11 aredeposited onto the conveyor 10 at the rate which States Patent twocenter pulleys.

2,884,243 Patented Apr. 28, 1959 It will be seen that the signatures 11are overlapped with their trailing edges against the conveyor 10. Thesignatures are moved with the conveyor to a receiver or box 24 where thesignatures are stacked as their leading edges 25 abut a stop 26. A beltconveyor 27 is movably mounted on a pulley 28 on the shaft 20 to extendover the floor 31 of the receiver 24, and the pulleys 15 and 28 are, ofcourse, axially offset from each other and rotate independently on theshaft 20 so that the speed of the two pulleys 15 and 28 is different asthe belt 27 moves slower than the conveyor 10. The stop 26 is verticallysupported and movably mounted on po sts2 9 to accommodate differentheights of signatures. The posts 29 can be supported in side plates 35constituting the top of the frame 18. The belt 27 thus moves the sheetor signature stack 30 along the receiver at the speed which thesignatures are fed into the entrance or mouth of the receiver. Aplurality of straight knurled rollers 32 are spaced along the shaft 21to extend above the upper limit of the conveyor 10, and thereforerec-eive the lower or trailing edges 33 of the signatures in the rollerstraight grooves 32a to flare or move the trailing edges .away from theentrance to the receiver to relieve pres .sure on the stream ofsignatures coming above the conveyor 10. The rollers 32 rotate at aspeed suflicient to cause the circumferences thereof to have a linearspeed greater thanthe speed of the stack 30. Thus, the rollers receivethe trailing edges and cause them to bend away from the receiverentrance, as shown.

A second conveyor composed of a plurality of belts 3.4 is trained overthe pulleys 36, '37, and 38. The pulley 37 also guides the conveyor 10as shown. The pulleys 36 are mounted on the frame 18 and extendtherefrom on rods 39 which adjus'tably supportthe pulleys 36 through thetwo nuts 41 shown threaded on the end of the rods 39 at opposite sidesof a shaft 42 which supports the pulleys 36. The pulleys 36 are spacedfrom the conveyor 10 for guiding the signatures between the conveyors 10and 34 and past the pulleys 37 to an upright position, as shown. Theconveyor 34 thus moves in the direction of the arrows shown.

It will be seen that there are four pulleys 38, and the two side pulleysof the four are axially offset from {the This causes the signatures 11to 'be arcuately disposed or curved at their leading edges .25. andthereby attain the desired alignment of the signatures in the stack 30.The curvedfidges will a'but the stop .26 and remainthere without thetendency to be crushed against the step through the force of the'incoming signatures.

To achieve this, the pulleys 38 are mounted onja's'haft 43 anchored inthe side plates 35. Four brackets 44 are spaced along the shaft 43 andeachsupports a rod .46, as shown. The upper end of each rod supports .a

respective belts 34 are offset across the path of the conveyor -'10 andthus the angled portionsSl of .the two side belts-34 will induce thesignatures 11 to curveasshown ,in Fig. 2. 'Fig. 3 shows the arrangementof the -helts '17,.and 34 on .the pulleys16. It should be noticed thatthe stop 26 is shown with four holes.52..for receiving the ,four belts34. The portions of thebelts 34 extended beyond and above the conveyor10 aretermed return :lengths .of ,the belts 34.

Of course, different signature stifinesses and like factors of thesheets or signatures, require different curvatures in delivery orstacking. In the structure described, the required curvatures can 'beeasily and readily obtained by the proper positioning of the pulleys 38.

While a specific embodiment of this invention has been shown anddescribed, it should be obvious that certain changes could be madetherein; thus the scope of this invention should be determined by theappended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a collector of flexible sheets such as signatures of paperdisposed with the signatures in an overlapped re lation on a conveyorwhich guides said signatures to a receiver where a stop automaticallystrips them 01? said conveyor and they are stacked in aligned relationin said receiver, the combination with the foregoing of a plurality ofconveyor belts disposed adjacent and parallel to said conveyor andmovable therewith for confining said signatures between said conveyorand said belts and for guiding said signatures in their edge-wisedirection and to dispose said signatures in an upright position whenthey reach said receiver, said belts extending across said receiver forpulling said signatures completely to their aligned relation, a fixedstop disposed transversely across the edge-wise path of travel of theleading edges of said signatures so as to intercept the same andinterrupt the edge-wise movement of said signatures, and said beltsbeing disposed with the side and the center ones of said belts in theirextents adjacent said stop being ofiset with respect to each other alongthe length of said receiver all for arcuately disposing said signaturesalong their leading edges when the latter abut said stop.

2. A collector for flexible sheets comprising a first conveyor includinga horizontal section for receiving said sheets in an overlapped relationand being movable for transporting said sheets in a stream relation, asecond conveyor disposed adjacent and parallel to said first conveyorand movable therewith for confining said sheets between said conveyorsand with the latter including upright sections to dispose the stream ofsaid sheets therebetween in an upright position, said second conveyorincluding an end section extended beyond the limit of said firstconveyor with the leading edges of said sheets in contact with said endsection, an elongated re ceiver including a floor horizontally disposedadjacent and transverse to said stream on said end section and to theside of said stream opposite from said end section, and with saidreceiver having an entrance for said sheets to enter said receiver, astop disposed at the downstream side of said entrance for stripping saidsheets ofi said end section and causing said sheets to stack along saidfloor in said upright Position.

3. In a collector of flexible sheets such as signatures of paperdisposed with the signatures in an overlapped relation on a conveyorwhich guides said signatures to a receiver where a stop automaticallystrips them ofi said conveyor and they are stacked in aligned relationin said receiver, the combination with the foregoing of a plurality ofconveyor belts disposed adjacent to said conveyor and movable therewithfor confining said signatures between said conveyor and said belts, saidbelts extending beyond the limit of said conveyor across said receiverfor pulling said signatures completely to their aligned relation againstsaid stop, said belts being disposed with the side and the center onesof said belts in their extents adjacent said stop being ofiset withrespect to each other along the length of said receiver all forarcuately disposing said signatures along their leading edges when thelatter abut said stop, means movable with said conveyor for engaging thetrailing edges of said signatures which are in said stack adjacent saidlimit of said conveyor and moving said trailing edges in a directionaway from said belts.

4. In a collector of flexible sheets such as signatures of paperdisposed with the signatures in an overlapped relation on a conveyorwhich guides said signatures in an upright stream to one side of areceiver from where said signaturesare moved against a stop to bestacked in aligned relation in said receiver, the combination with theforegoing of a plurality of conveyor belts disposed adjacent to saidconveyor and movable therewith for confining said stream of saidsignatures between said conveyor and said belts, said belts includingreturn lengths extending beyond the limit of said conveyor and acrosssaid receiver to the other side thereof for pulling said signaturesuprightly and slidably across the stack and completely to their alignedrelation against said stop, and pulleys movably mounted for receivingsaid return lengths of said belts for selectively disposing said returnlengths relative to each other in the longitudinal direction of saidreceiver and across the extended path of said conveyor for arcuatelydisposing said signatures along their leading edges when the latter abutsaid stop.

5. A method of stacking sheets of paper being continuously fed from amachine such as a printing press, the steps comprising arranging saidsheets in overlapped and echeloned relation in the order and at the ratethat they are fed from said machine, moving said sheets in theiredgewise direction into an upright stream with the leading edges of saidsheets disposed to one side of said stream, interrupting the movement ofsaid sheets in said edgewise direction by having said leading edges abuta stop to cause said leading edges to align in a direction transverse tothe plane of said sheets and to the side of said stream opposite saidone side and thereby form a stack in tight contact with said uprightstream, and moving said stack of said sheets in said directiontransverse to the plane of said sheets.

6. A method of stacking sheets of paper or the like being continuouslyfed from a machine, the steps comprising arranging said sheets inoverlapped and echeloned relation in a horizontal stream and in theorder and at the rate that they are fed from said machine, moving saidsheets in their edgewise direction and into an upright position forpresenting an upright stream with the upper leading edges of said sheetsdisposed on one side of said upright stream, arcuately disposing saidleading edges of said sheets about the line of movement of said sheets,intercepting said leading edges to stop the upward movement of saidsheets in said edgewise direction and cause said leading edges to alignin a direction transverse to the plane of said upright stream and form astack in snug contact with said upright stream on the side thereofopposite said one side, moving said stack at a speed and away from saidmachine in said direction transverse to the plane of said uprightstream, and moving the trailing edges of a plurality of said sheetswhich are adjacent those of said sheets moving in their edgewisedirection in said direction transverse to the plane of said sheets at aspeed faster than said speed of said stack.

7. In a collector of flexible sheets such as signatures of paperdisposed with the signatures in an overlapped relation on a conveyorwhich guides said signatures to a receiver where a stop automaticallystrips them off said conveyor and they are stacked in aligned relationin said receiver, the combination with the foregoing of a plurality ofconveyor belts disposed adjacent to said conveyor and movable therewithfor confining said signatures between said conveyor and said belts, saidbelts extending beyond the limit of said conveyor and across saidreceiver for guiding said signatures completely to their alignedrelation against said stop, said belts being disposed with the side andthe center ones of said belts in their extents across said receiverbeing offset with respect to each other along the length of saidreceiver all for arcuately disposing said signatures along their leadingedges when the latter abut said stop, rotatable means having straightgrooves thereacross and disposed with the axis thereof and said groovesthereof parallel to the trailing edges of said signatures for saidgrooves receiving said trailing edges of said signatures which are insaid stack adjacent said limit of said conveyor and moving said trailingedges in a direction away from said belts upon rotation of saidrotatable means.

8. A collector of flexible sheets such as papers which are disposed inan overlapped relation on a conveyor which moves said sheets in a streamto a receiver where said sheets are stacked on a movable support inaligned relation in said receiver, the invention characterized by saidconveyor including endless belts being movable across the entireentrance to said receiver in an upward direction and with said receiverbeing disposed toward the side of said belts such that the leading edgesand a part of one side of said sheets are in contact with said belts andsaid receiver is disposed toward the opposite side of said sheets, saidbelts being extended beyond one end of the References Cited in the fileof this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,063,338 Duncan June 3, 19132,053,315 Barnecott Sept. 8, 1936 2,381,430 Belluche Aug. 7, 1945

